What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

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  • #16
    Re: What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

    And here's the original email by his wife announcing the seminar:

    ----

    To the passionate screenwriters & filmmakers who have reached out recently to my husband,

    Over the last decade my husband, Chris Fenton, has shared with me the anguish he feels each and every time a writer sends him unsolicited materials in the hopes of gaining representation. Why? Because 16 years ago my husband arrived in Los Angeles as a writer with the dream of turning his passion into a career, and he knows personally how difficult that process can be. He also knows that there aren't enough hours in the day or days in the week for him to personally help each and every writer who reaches out to him.

    Accordingly, Chris began to compare the dream of making it big in Hollywood to winning the lottery. Meeting the right people, learning the system, gaining the correct experience, honing his talents and working exceptionally hard, were all ways he could better his odds and guarantee himself a "winning ticket."

    His strategy to best achieve success in Hollywood --- the goal of owning all the tickets to ensure winning the lottery --- Chris utilizes every day in his professional life in an effort to move his career and his clients' careers forward in the ever-changing and challenging entertainment business. Over the years he has shared advice with students in undergraduate, graduate and alumni film programs at Cornell, UCLA, and UCLA, with younger students attending schools in LAUSD, Florida, and Connecticut, international film students and professionals in China, and with attendees at seminars or podcasts sponsored by Hollywood publications such as Fade In, Screenwriters Online, Script Magazine and Creative Screenwriting.

    Now Chris is offering his advice in a more advanced and highly focused forum to those who have fully committed to a career of writing in the entertainment business. This intensive, unique, one-day seminar will allow each of you to walk away with a better understanding of how to achieve success in the highly competitive career of screenwriting in Hollywood. The seminar will take place Saturday, March 13, 2010 at the Los Angeles Airport (LAX) Radisson Hotel from 9 am - 5 pm.

    For more information or to register for the event, please go to www.ownallthetickets.com. Along with the seminar's specific content and agenda, you will find Chris' biography as well as extensive press materials on he & his company H2F Entertainment.

    I look forward to seeing you in March.

    Best wishes,
    Jennifer Fenton

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    • #17
      Re: What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

      Here is what will be taught for those who are curious (and lazy to click the link).

      ---
      General Structure:

      The OWN ALL THE TICKETS workshop will be comprised of six, 1 hour seminars with 10 minute breaks in between each segment. There will also be a one hour sign-in period prior to the conference starting when a continental breakfast will be available and attendees can meet each other casually. I highly recommend arriving early in order to meet other participants. This networking will be useful for a segment later in the day.

      To keep energy levels high, a boxed lunch will be served during the fourth segment. To keep the learning momentum high, there will be no official break for lunch. (Besides, no one does lunch anymore in Hollywood!)

      The final 10 minutes of each individual segment will be reserved for questions from attendees pertaining to the subject matter just covered. I highly recommend, and hope for, strong participation from attendees when it comes to each question & answer period. However, in the event of a shy audience, I will pose commonly asked questions and answer them accordingly.

      The agenda is as follows:
      HOUR 1: MY OWN PERSONAL JOURNEY

      From waiting tables at the Olive Garden in Westwood, CA, to working in the mailroom at William Morris, to being the youngest agent at the agency in 1996 (25 years old), to having my first manuscript bought by 20TH Century Fox, to getting fired from WMA in 2001, to my transitioning into management/production, to starting my own business in 2004, and to leading my clients and my company to success in today's challenging environment............ AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, how & why my personal journey completely relates to yours, and what you can learn from it.
      HOUR 2: THE LOTTERY SYSTEM OF HOLLYWOOD

      Why it truly is lightning striking in the same bottle, TWICE, and why success can elude someone with 1000 lottery tickets yet embrace someone else with only one ticket. After outlining the challenges to success and the often-times randomness of it all, I will walk you through how to "best your odds" in order to acquire that extremely rare yet obtainable winning ticket. No day should pass without acquiring at least one new ticket!
      HOUR 3: HOW IT ALL WORKS

      Who are the players and how is the Hollywood system set-up? I'll walk you through how a spec starts in a representative's hands, goes into the market place, sells in the market, starts the development process, and ultimately becomes a movie. How do representatives fit into all of this? What is the mindset of agents & managers, especially in today's environment -- what motivates them, what they look for, and whom they like to represent? "Being connected" - What does that mean? How does that fit into the system? How do connections introduce you to key players? How do you get representation? Finding representation -- It's not as hard as it seems....if you know how to do it correctly.
      HOUR 4: THE BASICS ARE COVERED, NOW WHAT? CAREER STRATEGY

      After understanding the business and securing representation, what should you be writing? What will get you noticed? What kind of material will create fans of your work? What will sell? What kind of material should you concentrate on? What kind of process should you use to write that material? How do you incorporate your representatives? What kind of material will actually get made by studios? What should you continue writing to prolong a successful career? Do you need to worry about branding yourself? How do you get longevity? Etc.

      Stick with what you KNOW, SUCCEED, then EXPAND.
      HOUR 5: A MEMBER OF HOLLYWOOD'S FRESHMAN CLASS

      Networking Exercises -- At the beginning of the seminar, I will ask each of you to pair up with three others for this segment. Utilize the previous break periods to meet each other and decide on your partners. You and your three partners will officially become your very first networking group post Own All The Tickets. I will walk you through how to take advantage of your new connections while also helping out each of your partners in the process.

      Stick with whom you KNOW, SUCCEED, then EXPAMD.
      HOUR 6: WHAT WASN'T COVERED? WHAT NEEDS MORE EXPLANATION?

      Upon registering for this conference, you will be asked to submit two questions or topics that you would like me to answer and discuss. I will pick the most common issues and address them in order from most common to least common.

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      • #18
        Re: What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

        I got this same email as well. It sounds desperate on their part so I'm baffled now that I hear H2F is a reputable firm???? WTF?

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        • #19
          Re: What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

          I just received a much a shorter one from him now too. it was very "friendly." I almost get the feeling they're into swapping.

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          • #20
            Re: What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

            I got both letters. For me, it torpedoes credibility. I mean, go ahead and offer a seminar, if you must, but don't tell me you won't feel comfortable looking at my script until I pay $159.00 to meet you. If I were one of their clients, or a producer or an agent they're working with, I'd feel seriously uncomfortable about this proposition and start wondering what was wrong financially. Start to wonder if this is one of those guys that's going to disappear in the middle of the night with all the checks.

            I'll tell you what I'm passionate about. You should never pay anyone to rep you until they make money for you. That includes "fees" for reading and/or copying your script. And meeting them.

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            • #21
              Re: What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

              And Bram, IMDB's info is often out of date, so the poor woman answering that phone is probably has H2F's outdated old number and is deluged with similar phone calls right now.

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              • #22
                Re: What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

                Seems a little dicey at best, but to be honest I can't I'm can't blame them for turning the table a little on the 'unsolicited queries' thing.

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                • #23
                  Re: What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

                  I didn't receive any of those e-mails, but I did get a Facebook friend request yesterday from something called the Screenwriters Arsenal. What the hell is that? And how did they find my name or e-mail address? It is a bit creepy and annoying how much our info is shared and/or sold.

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                  • #24
                    Re: What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

                    Originally posted by carcar View Post
                    And Bram, IMDB's info is often out of date, so the poor woman answering that phone is probably has H2F's outdated old number and is deluged with similar phone calls right now.
                    You're right. LOL! She was H2F what? It's funny now that I think about.

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                    • #25
                      Re: What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

                      Just checked my email and found the 2nd email from him as well.

                      This is really bothersome. It would have been fine for him to send the email, but just dangling that carrot out there - saying that he would feel comfortable reading your material after meeting you - is a really bad move. It sends very bad signals and sets a really bad precedent as carcar has mentioned. Too bad, because as everyone is saying they have plenty of credibility as a mgmt firm.

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                      • #26
                        Re: What happens to all those thousands of unsolicited queries

                        Maybe someone should send them the link to this thread

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